The next chapter for Walker Library

The current Walker Library, at 2880 Hennepin Ave. in Minneapolis, dates to 1981. The library is scheduled to close on Saturday to make way for a new library on the site. (File photo: Bill Klotz)

Uptown site closes Saturday for new $12M branch

It’s time to close the book on the Walker Library after three decades in the Uptown area of south Minneapolis.

After years of discussion and planning, the subterranean Walker Library, at 2880 Hennepin Ave., will close on Saturday to make way for a new $12 million Hennepin County Library branch on the site.

The plan calls for bringing the books out of the basement and up to the street level. The only thing underground at the new library will be about two dozen parking spaces.

“It’s going to up in the sunlight; lots of glass. We’re really trying to have it fit within that neighborhood,” said Hennepin County Commissioner Gail Dorfman, who has been involved with the planning process. “This library serves a pretty wide geographic area. It’s really the only public institution in the Uptown area. It’s a place where people can congregate. …We think Uptown will be a very vibrant library.”

The current Walker Library dates to 1981. But the unusual underground design, originally conceived as a way to conserve energy, has not been popular in the community.

“I think it was the result of the energy crisis [in the 1970s]. … It was considered a very modern design,” said Thatcher Imboden with the Minneapolis-based Ackerberg Group, the largest commercial landlord in the Uptown area. “Everybody wanted the library to be rebuilt.”

The library was originally part of the Minneapolis Public Library system; the Hennepin County Library and the Minneapolis Public Library merged in January 2008. The Hennepin County Library system now includes 41 libraries.

Minneapolis-based Vincent James Associates Architects (VJAA) designed the new Walker Library, scheduled to open in the Uptown area of Minneapolis in 2014. (Submitted rendering)

In 2005, four development groups responded to a request for proposals (RFP) at the site, pitching various mixed-use projects for the site. Some called for condos while other proposed apartments. But no plans ever moved forward because the Minneapolis Public Library did not have money to finance a new library at the site.

Planning for the current effort began in fall 2009. Minneapolis-based Vincent James Associates Architects (VJAA) is the project architect. No contractor has been selected yet.

The new single-story library — slated to open in 2014 — calls for 14,680 square feet of space, slightly smaller than the existing underground library. But even in the age of technology, libraries are still important community assets, Dorfman said.

“We’re trying to achieve this balance between computers and books,” Dorfman said. “There’s still a lot of people who want to come to a library.”

Dorfman said that the architects are looking at a plan to reuse the large silver letters that spell out “library” on the site of the new building. She is often asked about what will happen to the letters by members of the community.

“They’re kind of iconic,” Dorfman said.

The current Walker Library dates to 1981. But the unusual underground design, originally conceived as a way to conserve energy, has not been popular in the community. The plan calls for bringing the books out of the basement and up to the street level. The only thing underground at the new library will be about two dozen parking spaces. (Staff Photo: Bill Klotz)

The Uptown area is bustling with new development. Across the street from the library site, the renovated Uptown Theater opened last weekend. Earlier this year, the Ackerberg Group completed MoZaic, a mixed-use project including office and retail space with several levels of parking. Minneapolis-based Greco Development completed Flux, a 216-unit market-rate apartment project, earlier this year and many more apartment projects are in the Uptown pipeline.

The Walker Library site is across the street from the original Walker Library, built in 1911 on land that had been owned by T.B. Walker, a prominent local businessman and art collector who served as the first president of the city’s library board. The building, at 2901 Hennepin Ave., is now home to LifePower Uptown, a fitness club operated by Chanhassen-based Life Time Fitness Inc.

The Hennepin County Library system has several other building projects in the works, including plans for a new $23.5 million library in Brooklyn Park that is still in the planning stages.

Sarah Garbis, project manager with the Hennepin County Library’s capital projects office, said that they are planning to start construction in 2013 for a new, $5.6 million, 7,200-square-foot library in Excelsior.

“It’s going to replace a space that we lease from the city of Excelsior in their city hall,” Garbis said.

In south Minneapolis, the Roosevelt Library is undergoing a $3.2 million renovation and is slated to reopen in summer 2013.